One Wrong Step
by Mia-Zeklos
Summary: Lucius remembers the long time it took him to win Narcissa's heart. One-shot. Written for HedwigBlack's Song Lyric Competition on the Harry Potter challenges forum.


_Written for HedwigBlack's Song Lyric Competition on the Harry Potter challenges forum._

_Are you an angel now, or a vulture?_

_Constantly hovering over_

_Waiting for the big mistake_

Lucius lurked beyond the trees outside the Black Manor. He had to be careful; he didn't want to be heard or seen. He shouldn't be outside at all - he was supposed to be on the party he was invited to, but instead, he was hiding here, spying two particular people.

There he was - Rabastan Lestrange, leaning on a tree and lighting a cigarette. His dark red hair was being blown by the cool wind every now and then as the boy was waiting for someone - it was obvious by the way he was glancing at the doors of the Manor on every five seconds. But Lucius knew who exactly he was waiting for and soon, the blond girl appeared behind the corner, still in the blood red dress she was wearing on the party. Narcissa wrapped her arms around her and shivered slightly from the air in the summer night. When she noticed Rabastan, a smile curled her lips.

"Hello, Rab." she said almost shyly, trying to avoid the boy's gaze. Lucius was stunned by that way of a salute. No _what's up, Rab?_ or _Hey, Rab!_She was acting so differently now, when she wasn't at school with her gang of Slytherin girls all around her. She seemed as the lady she was probably taught to be.

Lucius wasn't really sure that acting like that was a good idea, though. He liked the real Narcissa more.

Rabastan went to her and took her in his embrace. Lucius scowled when Narcissa smiled contently. He was supposed to be there and to get her in his warm embrace, not that Lestrange kid. The boy felt the jealousy piercing his whole body.

"Hello, Ciss." he greeted her warmly with the usual nickname he was using for her. Lucius could see how his chocolate eyes sparkled under a strand of red hair as he was smiling. Actually, he thought that he couldn't blame Narcissa. If it was about appearance, the boy was pretty good looking.

"You should get a haircut, Rab." she teased him and Lucius saw that the Narcissa he knew was breaking under the mask of a young lady – talking freely of what she wanted and not caring what the people surrounding her would think of her. "Your hair is falling all over your face already."

"Sure." Rabastan laughed slightly and ran his right hand through his hair, as though he was, in fact, appreciating it in its current state more than when it was cut. "I actually want to leave it get longer for a change."

"And you'll look like the biggest psychopath on earth." She pointed out; that disarming playful smile still gleaming on her face as he high, clear voice was taken by the wind and brought to Lucius. "Trust me; I've seen your brother."

"Hey!" Rabastan tried to sound offended, but failed when a huge smile raised on his lips. "Aren't you supposed to be nicer? He's your sister's boyfriend after all." the boy pointed out. Narcissa scowled when he touched the cigarette to his lips and Lucius smiled triumphantly. This was something he knew for a long time ago - Cissa didn't like people smoking next to her.

Suddenly Lucius realized what he was doing. Hiding between the bushes in Narcissa's garden, looking at her while she was talking with a boy that she maybe had no love interest in. He almost felt ashamed, but didn't let the feeling spread up in him. He knew why he was doing this. If he could just see what she was seeing in Rabastan... maybe he'd know what exactly he's doing wrong.

"I'm not harsh enough to them, if you ask me." Narcissa spoke and Lucius brought back his attention on the two fifteen-years-old teenagers in front of him. "They've got all too much freedom."

"True that." Rab sighed. "Mother informed me today that they are to be engaged too. Obviously your mother also thinks that he's the best suitor for Bella. And he probably is. He's the only one who'd be able to stand her long enough, a.k.a. for three hours. That's how long a wedding is, right?"

Cissa's clear laughter rang around them in the garden and Lucius shivered. It was a rare thing for him to make her laugh like that. Even on their Quidditch training days, when he spent a lot of time with her. Suddenly he filled with anger for Lestrange. It was so easy for him to amuse her! If only Lucius could do the same thing so often...

Rab sighed and sat on the grass, took his wand out and lighted another cigarette with it. Lucius would be surprised if he didn't know this trick - everyone can use magic, even under-age wizards, if they're on a place full of older wizards and witches. He wouldn't get expelled if nobody knew he was the one to cast the spell.

"Mother told me also that soon I'll be someone's suitor also." He said and a small cloud of smoke danced in front of his face for an instant when he exhaled. "I told her that I'm still too young for that, but, traditionally, nobody's listening to me."

"Typical." Narcissa snorted, but didn't sit next to him. Lucius knew about this habit of hers - she never sat on almost any surface if she was in one of her precious dresses. "That's what Mother told me also. But Dad said that I can get married whenever I want if I don't like the suitor they found for me."

"You're one of the options for me, you know." Rabastan said. The boy hiding in the forest noticed that he was quite nervous to say it, no matter how casually he tried to sound.

Cissa smiled cynically at his words. She pursed her lips and for a moment, it seemed as if she considered sitting to Rabastan anyway, but she didn't. Instead, she just laughed curtly and somewhat joylessly. "Yeah, you're on my list too." she said darkly. "And also..."

"Malfoy." Rabastan growled suddenly and so angrily that Lucius thought he had seen him where he was hiding. He raised his head, but the boy wasn't looking at him at all. Then he realized that Rab was just finishing Narcissa's sentence.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "H-how did you know?" she asked quietly.

"It's only logical. Your families are connected from ages. I mean, Bellatrix will most likely marry Rod, so what's the point to give another daughter to a Lestrange? And plus" he continued, his voice getting louder when he saw that she's about to interrupt him. "I've seen the way he looks at you. He'll make you his wife as soon as somebody allows him."

"No, he won't." Cissa said gently. "Lucius is my friend. Just like you. And…. Why are you even doing this, Rab?" she asked softly, caressing his hair with her long white fingers. "I… I just wonder why you waste your time with me at all." She murmured under her breath. Rabastan stared at her in surprise, looking almost annoyed at her diffidence.

"How could you say such a thing, Ciss? You're just perfect! You're smart, ambitious, loving, bright, loyal…"

She stared at him skeptically, raising an eyebrow in that familiar way of hers. She apparently couldn't believe him, and started playing nervously with a ribbon on the corset of her dress. Then she looked down, trying to hide that she had blushed. Lucius felt sympathy mixed with irritation. It seemed that 'the Lestrange kid' was making all the right steps that he'd been missing all the time.

"Really?" she asked quietly. "You think so?"

"Why are you so surprised?" Rabastan asked with a slight smile.

"Well, rarely someone says such things to impress me." She admitted with unease. "Lucius, for example, always says that I'm pretty."

For the boy in question's great surprise, Rabastan suddenly pressed her to the wall of the Manor behind them; his eyes almost gleamed in the dark – so much that even Lucius from his hideaway noticed it.

"Lucius, Lucius, Lucius." He growled. "Always Lucius. I think you'd actually be pretty pleased to marry him."

"No!" Cissy exclaimed and cupped his cheeks with her hands, staring deeply into his brown eyes, like she wanted him to remember what she was saying, to remember her face in this exact second. "Never!"

Rabastan kissed her tenderly, his hands wrapped around her and his eyes closed. Lucius could see that even when kissing her, Lestrange looked angry at the mere mention of his name.

He walked away. There was no point of looking at them anymore. There was no wrong step; no flaw that Lucius was hoping to see. Obviously, this time he had lost.

* * *

Lucius remembered about that summer night now, as he was seeing the same eyes all over again – crystal blue and chocolate brown locking, one with another, as if it was their life depending on that. Now that memory seemed so stupid, so childish, almost amusing – or it would be, if the boy he was hating back then wasn't sitting, chained, in a chair, waiting to be sent in Azkaban for the rest of his long life.

He felt almost guilty as the other man tried to look calm and serene. Lucius had tried to ruin one of the rare happy moments that he had in his life by taking away Narcissa from him. A real relationship between them two never actually worked, of course; Cissa and Rab were most like best friends who had been together for a while just so see if they can.

Rabastan was looking nervously around the courtroom now, ten years later, probably trying to distract himself from what was happening. Lucius knew how he was feeling; just a week ago, Lucius himself was called for an interrogation in this very same room, trying to explain everything about his crimes and make himself look innocent. But for Rabastan, it was too late for that. It was too late also for his brother and his sister-in-law, but they didn't seem to care that much about that.

Crouch announced his decision. Lucius looked desperately as everyone in the courtroom raised their hands in union; they wore the same expressions of some wicked joy that made them look even worse than the ones that were judged right now. There was no doubt. The three Lestranges and Barty Crouch Junior were declared as guilty.

Cissa buried her face in his shoulder and he could feel – and hear – her crying as the Dementors took the prisoners away. He felt her tears running down his shoulder as Bellatrix shouted at Crouch Senior and said that one day they'll be awarded for their loyalty.

Lucius wasn't sure if Cissa was crying for her sister, for Rabastan, or for the both of them. And he didn't ask.

But now, he knew that it wasn't about Rabastan making a mistake. Even back then, when they were still teenagers. It had probably never been about that, and he knew that it had been cruel from him to want the other man to fail just because Lucius wanted Cissa for himself.

Now, Lucius knew that he was waiting for something else. He wasn't waiting for Rabastan to make the wrong step. He was waiting for Narcissa to make the right choice.

* * *

**Author's notes: Well, I don't suppose it worked as well as it was supposed to be, but it's my first fanfic challenge of any sort and I'm still quite pleased with it.**

**I didn't know what to do with the pairing. It maybe had to be Narcissa and Rabastan, or just Lucius; because he was my narrator, but I think it was logical to be Narcissa and Lucius after all. Not that it really matters.**

**Anyway, reviews, as long as they're constructive, are very welcome once again.**


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